Slump for UK home of Viagra as Pfizer shuts plant in Kent February 1, 2011 DRUGMAKER Pfizer plans to close a plant in Kent where 2,400 of its research and development team are based, as part of a move to cut its research budget by £1.2bn a year. The news came as Pfizer adjusted its sales forecast for 2012, the first year that the patent will expire on its profit-driving [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD THE 50P TAX RATE BE CUT? February 1, 2011 CHRIS PEREGRINE | COLT “No I think it only applies to high earners. It’s right that the rich should pay more, although it’s not the answer to everything. I would be very surprised if it changes this year.” NICK DONOVAN | RSA GROUP “Not at the moment. Everyone needs to make a contribution to getting [...]
UPS delivers a surprisingly high profit package February 1, 2011 PARCEL delivery firm UPS surprised markets by delivering almost a 50 per cent jump in its 2010 operating profit yesterday. UPS generated $5.8bn (£3.65bn) full-year adjusted operating profit, a 47 per cent jump on 2009, while full-year revenues rose 9.4 per cent to $49.5bn as the company delivered 3.9bn packages over the year. The results [...]
US car sales surge 18pc in January February 1, 2011 US car sales jumped by about 18 per cent in January, led by gains for General Motors and Chrysler as the two Detroit carmakers restructured by the US government took share from rivals. GM posted a 22 per cent sales gain, pushing its market share above 20 per cent. Chrysler, which is pushing toward an [...]
UK money supply indicates expansion February 1, 2011 UK money supply figures for December, released yesterday by the Bank of England, suggest moderate economic expansion during the first half of 2011. Broad money rose by three per cent annualised in the three months to December while annual growth moved up to 2.3 per cent. However, narrow money remained sluggish with M1, accounting for [...]
Pressure on personal finances rises February 1, 2011 The proportion of people saying they “have no spare cash” has risen to 27 per cent, according to the latest consumer confidence survey, released today. This was six percentage points higher at the end of 2010 than a year earlier and the highest since the survey began in 2005, according to the Nielsen Company and [...]
American construction spend drops February 1, 2011 US construction spending fell 2.5 per cent in December, marking the second decline in a row, the Commerce Department reported yesterday. For all of last year, construction spending ended up 10.3 per cent lower compared to 2009.
Bank’s chief hawk says businesses will grow Britain out of recession February 1, 2011 FOR seven months Andrew Sentance stood alone, the only Bank of England rate-setter brave enough to call out for a gradual rise in rates. Yet in January he was finally joined by one of his eight colleagues, Martin Weale, in his appeal for a gradual tightening in the central bank’s rates. “I don’t want to [...]
Floods drag Xstrata coal figures down February 1, 2011 MINER Xstrata said coal production fell six per cent in 2010 with thermal coal output affected by severe weather in the first quarter and in December. Total consolidated coal production fell to 79.9m tonnes even as the Anglo-Swiss miner posted annual production records for coking coal and semi-soft coking coal. The production report did not [...]
How the sexism row hurt Sky’s brand February 1, 2011 FOLLOWING last week’s sexism scandal that saw Andy Gray and Richard Keys leave Sky Sports we’ve taken a look at how the controversy has impacted on perceptions of their former employer’s brand. On the Friday before the Wolves versus Liverpool match Sky Sports had a buzz score of -3.2. The initial story barely impacted on [...]
